Ashley, Katrina, and several others have recommended this weird footwear.
click to see details on this Women's shoe
The second is a Men’s shoe. Click through to Amazon to see other models. And competitive products from other companies.
Five Fingers were named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2007.
And they are getting a lot of love on the blogosphere from runners and hikers.
Those convinced that traditional running shoes might be causing them injury are trying more natural footwear as an alternative.
Vibram has a store locator page if you want to try on a pair yourself.
From Wisconsin coach Jason Orkowski:
As a coach I have worn sandals so I could slip them off quickly to spot or demonstrate but I found that structurally I was developing back issues because of the lack of support while standing. The V5-Finger may be my solution. …
Leave a comment if you’ve worn them in the gym. Or have an opinion pro or con.
13 comments ↓
I looked into this yesterday and found a blog from a guy who loved the shoe but had issues with the toes. I think I’d like a shoe like this but with a wide, flexible toe box instead of the gloved toes.
Either that or have the shoes custom made so the gloved part fits my toes.
These things are a huge hit at a camp I work at. I find that they tend to generate a lot of sweat (and smell!). Yuck.
I have worn mine a lot for a lot of different purposes.
I’ve ran a 6km road race, 1km track race, used them for Olympic weight lifting (clean&jerk, snatch), CrossFit workouts, and in the gym coaching.
I had little to no time spend getting my feet strong enough to handle them as I was already used to training barefoot from my gymnastic days.
Those that haven’t grown up participating in a barefoot sport can’t and shouldn’t put them on and expect the world. Running any distance in them requires strength and muscular endurance in your calves.
Wouldn’t your toes get cold in these?
JAO… Don’t run in the snow then
Good point, C.
I would have to take “special measures” to remove the odour.
The blog I read said you just have to be prepared to toss them in the washer.
I love mine!!! only bad part is they smell bad fast…. to help fix that fill a bucket with water and a box of baking soda place the shoes in the bucket… let sit over night then take them out and rinse the shoes off… works wonders … works on KEEN shoes and TEVAS and etc. also
I recently ran a 5k in mine and have also coached gymnastics in them. I also do all my workouts (weights, cardio, plyometrics) in them. They do smell but hold up very well when tossed into the washing machine. I have washed them several time on a normal cycle and they have come out fine. I am in the same situation as Katrina. It was not a hard switch for my feet because I spent years doing gymnastics. A friend of mine who is not a gymnast said it took about 3 weeks before he could train in them comfortable and about 2 months before he could run a race in them (and this was wearing them everyday to help his feet adjust).
There are quite a few threads on the crossfit forum about vibrams smelling.
From what I remember, letting them sit in a bucket of water with vinegar helped a lot but the anti bacterial stuff added to vibrams wears out pretty fast and you basically need to wash these things a lot or they will reek.
Letting them hang dry didn’t seem to help as they took too long to dry and started to grow more bacteria. So, drying them in the laundry dryer seems to be the way to go.
Best shoes I’ve ever owned. I wear them whenever I can’t be barefoot. To work, around town, everywhere. I have a second pair I run in, also when I can’t run barefoot. I do about 15 miles a week in them. I’ve only worn regular shoes 5 times in the last six months. My feet, ankles, and calves are MUCH stronger.
They do get stinky but I throw them in the washer, hang them in a warm place and they dry in about 4 hours.
The best!
If the footwear are absorbing any power, it stands to motive that that energy isn’t accessible for propulsion. My ft really feel lighter barefoot. That stands to purpose as well. Despite the fact that running shoes are made as mild as potential, they nonetheless weigh something. The drive of that weight is multiplied by placing them on the end of a lever corresponding to a leg. With each stride you’re lifting a small weight. Over the course of a 10K run, that’s a number of reps.
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